What one woman can do…

I remember sitting in the car on my way to dinner, amazed that in Manhattan one woman can change the entire dynamic of a city, the greatest city in the world, for a night. I mean the traffic just did not move, no matter how you tried to navigate it. Back streets, avenues it stood still, pedestrians spilling in the streets like Via Condotti at Christmas-time. Stores packed, yet as angry as it made me being in bumper to bumper traffic I looked around me from the Upper Eastside all the way to the tips of Manhattan the city was alive, and I smiled a little smile thinking THIS IS WHAT ONE WOMAN CAN DO IF SHE MAKES UP HER MIND. That one woman is Anna Wintour.

While I was reading I thought to myself THE WOMAN MUST BE ANNA WINTOUR AND THE OCCASION FASHION NIGHT OUT.
The achievements of Anna and other notable ladies, such as Oprah, Barbara Walters, Hillary Clinton and Diane Von Furstenberg gives me motivation to make my own lil mark on the world.
Gonna pick up that book. Thanks for the tidbit Shala.

I notice that you love wearing Prada. Did you know that her Spring 2011 was inspired by Josephine Baker? What most people know and some remember about Josephine Baker is her dancing the Charleston while wearing a skirt of bananas. This image is apparent in Prada’s spring 2011 fashion line. The line is clearly motivated by the early imagery of Josephine Baker by famed artist Paul Colin.
In M. Prada’s Spring fashion show each model strutted down the runway sporting the marcel curl hairstyle that Baker made famous. One colorful garment was clearly inspired by the Colin image of Baker in the banana skirt. Apart from that beautiful dress, the line features outfits with a motif of monkeys and bananas. Monkeys? Really?

This savage imagery is one that Josephine Baker worked hard to separate herself from. She re-invented herself and became a glamorous, sophisticated woman. Did the Devil make Prada do it? If Prada had done just a little more research, she would know that Josephine Baker was also famous for being portrayed in art and photography with her pet cheetah. Josephine would strut down the Champs Elysees in her finery while the cheetah pranced ahead in a diamond choker! Perhaps that animal could have been used in the motif of Prada’s garments.

I am really more than quite aware that the Prada SS11 collection is in part inspired by Josephine Baker. If you did your research you would also know that in addition to Jospehine Baker’s cheetah she also had as pets, dogs, birds, snakes, parrots, a goat, fish, a pig even a turkey and also a chimpanzee named Ethel. Where you see savagery I see beauty, in much the same way that in the beginning Josephine Baker’s dance routine was viewed as savage where really it was beautiful.

You are so right. What a great way of looking at this. I am thrilled that the imagery is being used
and that Josephine Baker is being recognized. But there are probably some young people who do not realize
that she was part of the inspiration for the collection. My goal is to uplift Ms. Baker in the most positive way because she truly is an icon. My master’s thesis was on Josephine and I am continually inspired by her. I would love to have that dress in any color and the earrings too!